Uncapped Josh Inglish picked in Australia's 15-member squad for T20 World Cup

Perth Scorthers' Josh Inglish could make his international debut at the upcoming T20 World Cup as he was selected in Australia's 15-member squad for the ICC event on Thursday.

Big stars such s David Warner, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell and Pat Cummins, who were not a part of Australia's recent tours of Carribean and Bangladesh, returned to the squad as captain Aaron Finch aims to win his country's maiden T20 World Cup title.

The T20 World Cup is scheduled to begin on Oct. 17 and will go on till Nov. 14 in the UAE and Oman. Australia have been drafted in Group 1 along with England, South Africa, West Indies, and two more teams that will qualify from Round 1.

The uncapped wicketkeeper-batsman, Inglish, was picked ahead of Alex Carey and Josh Philippe as the back-up gloveman to Matthew Wade for the T20 World Cup. The Perth Scorchers star was the leading run scorer in England's recent domestic T20 competition, scoring 531 runs from 14 games at a strike rate of 175.82 with Leicestershire. He is currently playing for the London Spirit in The Hundred. He recently slammed his highest score of the tournament, 72 from 45 balls as an opener, in Cardiff.

"Josh has been on our radar for some time with his performances in white ball cricket and more recently in the Vitality Blast where he topped the run charts. He offers the squad flexibility in the batting order with his adaptability, counterattacking ability and power striking. He is a player we are excited about for the future," chairman of selectors George Bailey was quoted by cricket.com.au, as saying.

Having played 63 T20s, the 26-year-old Inglish has two centuries and 11 fifties to his name and averages 32.90 in the shortest format of the game.

Leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson has made the squad, who along with Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar will hand Australia three good spin options on worn surfaces that are expected to see increasing amounts of turn due to the Indian Premier League (IPL) being held immediately before the tournament.

"Mitchell has been impressive with the opportunities he has had. Given the amount of cricket being played at the World Cup venues, we expect the wickets in the UAE to favour slow bowling, particularly in the latter stages, so he gives us another strong leg-spin option," said Bailey of Swepson.

It was not surprising to see batting all-rounder Mitchell Marsh in the T20 World Cup squad as the Western Australian was Australia's best batsmen during their recent series against West Indies and Bangladesh. Marsh was the leading run-scorer in West Indies, scoring 219 runs in five T20Is at an average of 43.80. He carried his form to Bangladesh, where he once again finished as the highest scorer of the five-matchseries with 156 runs, 42 runs more than second-placed Shakib-Al-Hasan.

He will not only be a key batting option but also is expected to aid the regular pacers Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins during the T20 World Cup.

Death bowling specialist Nathan Ellis, along with all-rounders Dan Christian and Daniel Sams, will travel with the Australian side as reserves.

Among the notable omissions for the T20 World Cup were fast bowlers Jhye Richardson, Andrew Tye and Jason Behrendorff along with top-order options Carey, Moises Henriques, Philippe and Ashton Turner after Australia slumped to their fifth consecutive T20I series defeat against Bangladesh earlier this month.

Australia's T20 World Cup squad: Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins (vc), Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade (wk), David Warner, Adam Zampa. Travelling reserves: Dan Christian, Nathan Ellis, Daniel Sams